1903 


Agric.  Dept. 


r 

•B&ic 

e 


BIOLOGT 
UBRARY 


AGRICULTURAL 
llBftARY, 


CALJFORNI 


The  Development  of  American 
Bacteriology 


BY 

H.  L.  RUSSELL 

MADISON,  WIS. 


REPRINTED   FROM   MEDICINE 
WILLIAM  M.  WARREN,  PUBLISHER 

DECEMBER.   1903 


tfaic  Lib, 


BIOLOGY 

LIBRARY 

G 


£AGRICULT, 
^LIBRARY, 


--  OF— 
CALIFORNIA, 


THE    DEVELOPMENT    OF   AMERICAN   BAC* 
TERIOLOGY.1 

BY  H.  L.  RUSSELL,  MADISON,  WISCONSIN. 

Those  of  us  who  hail  from  the  middle  west, 
where  the  cross-currents  of  a  mixed  civiliza- 
tion have  mingled  many  ethnic  strains,  have 
perhaps  less  appreciation  of  the  pride  of  ances- 
try than  those  whose  lot  it  has  been  to  dwell  in 
the  shadow  of  the  old  family  rooftree.  Not 
often  does  the  genealogical  fever  strike  the 
pioneer  or  his  immediate  successors.  Gener- 
ally he  is  too  busy  in  hewing  out  a  home  for 
himself  and  family  to  bother  with  historical 
studies.  It  is  only  after  he  strikes  it  rich  that 
he  feels  the  need  of  a  coat  of  arms,  or  his  wife 
seeks  admission  to  the  Society  of  Colonial 
Dames.  In  large  measure  too  are  historical 
retrospects  likely  to  be  disregarded  by  those  of 
us  who  have  turned  our  attention  to  some  of 
the  newer  lines  of  study  that  are  now  possible. 

The  student  of  botany  or  chemistry  or  phy- 
sics has  a  long  and  glorious  past  in  which  he 
can  revel.  If  he  attempts  to  prepare  a  chair- 
man's address,  he  may  go  back  in  the  history 


1  Address  of  the  chairman  of  the  Laboratory  Section  of  the 
American  Public  Health  Association,  delivered  at  Washington, 
D.  C.,  Oct.  26,  1903. 


265583 


of  his  chosen  field  as  far  as  he  wishes  to  carry 
his  hearers,  and  may  readily  gain  momentum 
as  he  sweeps  from  the  glorious  achievements 
of  one  master  to  the  next;  but  the  student  of  a 
science  which  in  itself  is  scarcely  out  of  its 
pioneer  days  is  much  more  sharply  limited  in 
such  a  retrospect. 

The  science  with  which  most  of  us  who 
are  here  gathered  have  to  do  is  hardly  old 
enough  to  have  a  past.  True  it  is  that  much 
valuable  work  has  been  done  in  the  earlier 
decades  of  the  century  just  closed,  or  even 
before,  but  as  a  scientific  subject  on  a  more  or 
less  exact  foundation,  the  past  two  or  three 
decades  have  given  us  nearly  all  the  knowledge 
we  have.  Previous  to  this  there  was  no  science 
of  bacteriology.  The  theories*  and  ideas  then 
accepted  were  not  based  in  any  large  measure 
upon  scientific  deductions  made  from  closely 
controlled  experimental  work,  but  were  more 
the  result  of  hypothetical  postulates,  which 
were  often  the  outcome  of  merely  polemical 
disputes. 

The  change  which  confronts  the  student  of 
to-day  is  great.  Now  he  finds  a  large  mass  of 
accumulated  data,  more  or  less  completely  or- 
ganized, and  the  underlying  principles  in  many 
lines  quite  thoroughly  marked  out.  The  boun- 
daries of  the  province  have  been  more  or  less 
sharply  defined,  and  we  are  recognizing  the 
limitations  of  even  the  germ  theory  of  disease, 


3 

which  in  earlier  days  was  strained  to  cover  a 
much  wider  range  of  phenomena  than  future 
investigations  sanctioned. 

Bacteriology  is  essentially  a  present-day  sci- 
ence. The  practical  results  which  flow  directly 
from  its  study  need  no  emphasis,  as  they  form 
so  important  a  part  of  scientific  endeavor  that 
they  cannot  be  overlooked.  They  strike  home 
so  closely  to  the  life  of  every  individual  that 
the  teachings  of  the  science  have  been  accorded 
a  reception  in  the  public  mind  which  shows  us 
the  responsibility  as  well  as  the  opportunity 
that  is  before  us.  The  degree  of  activity  which 
is  to  be  noted  indicates  a  virile,  growing  sub- 
ject. If  one  is  to  keep  up  in  any  considerable 
measure  with  the  literature  of  the  day,  he  finds 
a  strenuous  course  laid  out  for  him. 

The  rapid  progress  accorded  the  science  in 
our  own  country  has  led  me  to  wonder  whether 
it  might  not  be  worth  our  time  to  pause  for  a 
few  moments  to  consider  some  phases  of  its 
growth.  It  seems  to  me  if  such  a  considera- 
tion is  pertinent,  it  is  doubly  so  before  an  asso- 
ciation which  has  done  so  much  within  the  last 
few  years  to  foster  such  development.  The 
distinctively  bacteriological  societies  that  we 
have  in  America  are  not  old  enough  to  have 
much  more  than  a  kindergarten  birthday; 
nevertheless,  they  have  already  been  a  power- 
ful means  of  crystallizing  bacteriological  effort 
in  this  country,  and  have  undoubtedly  stimu- 


4 

lated  greatly  experimental  inquiry.  I  recall  in 
this  connection  the  earlier  days  of  my  own 
short  scientific  experience.  A  decade  ago  there 
was  hardly  any  scientific  meeting  for  the  bac- 
teriological student  who  was  not  closely  in 
touch  with  the  medical  aspect  of  the  work.  I 
remember  some  few  of  us  used  to  attend  the 
meetings  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science.  This  was  long  be- 
fore the  days  of  the  Section  on  Preventive  Med- 
icine. The  botanists  were  our  sponsors,  but 
there  was  little  time  or  opportunity  for  any 
discussion  on  things  strictly  bacteriological. 
In  considering  the  development  of  American 
bacteriology,  it  is  not  intended  in  any  way  to 
intimate  that  there  is  an  American  school  in 
the  sense  that  the  Berlin  or  Paris  school  used 
to  be  spoken  of  some  years  ago.  The  survival 
of  the  fittest  in  matters  of  technique  has  now  led 
to  the  almost  universal  adoption  of  methods 
that  have  been  found  to  be  best  adapted  to  the 
study  of  various  problems,  and  these  standard 
methods  are  more  or  less  commonly  followed 
everywhere.  Fortunately,  the  training  of 
the  majority  of  our  American  bacteriolo- 
gists who  have  studied  abroad  has  not  been 
confined  entirely  to  any  one  country,  although, 
following  the  course  of  most  American  stu- 
dents, the  larger  number  have  been  German 
trained.  This  more  cosmopolitan  training  has 
had  its  impress  on  American  work,  and  has 


5 

given  a  breadth  of  view  that  has  been  educa- 
tionally of  great  advantage. 

In  America  it  is  of  course  true  that  here  and 
there  individual  workers  have  been  engaged  in 
bacteriological  research  for  over  a  quarter  of 
a  century,  but  within  the  last  few  years  there 
has  been  such  an  extension  of  activity,  not  only 
in  the  amount  but  in  the  scope  of  work  per- 
formed, that  we  may  fairly  say  that  American 
Bacteriology  is  now  on  a  footing  that  com- 
mands scientific  attention  from  older  centers  of 
research. 

The  one  marked  characteristic  that  is  to  be 
noted  among  the  American  bacteriologists  is 
that  they  have  been  recruited  from  widely  dif- 
ferent preparatory  fields.  Like  the  nation  it- 
self, which  has  assimilated  races  and  peoples  of 
widely  varying  origin,  the  students  of  this  sci- 
ence have  had  their  preliminary  training  in 
lines  of  work  which  are  strikingly  remote  from 
each  other.  Naturally  the  great  majority  of 
them  have  approached  the  subject  from  a  med- 
ical point  of  view.  This  is  true  not  only  of 
those  whose  work  has  been  in  connection 
with  medical  schools,  but  with  students  of 
public  health,  particularly  those  in  the  board 
of  health  laboratories.  The  earlier  develop-^X 
ment  of  the  science  in  the  field  of  medicine  for  \\r 
a  long  time  controlled  bacteriological  activity, 
but  it  is  fair  to  assume  at  the  present  time  that 
bacteriology  is  no  longer  to  be  regarded  simply 


,u->^ 


as  a  protege  of  the  science  of  healing,  but  that 
it  should  stand  on  its  own  foundation  with 
other  biological  sciences.  A  considerable  num- 
ber of  our  bacteriologists  have  come  at  their 
life-work  from  the  botanical  or  general  biologi- 
cal point  of  view.  Others,  recognizing  the 
importance  of  this  line  of  activity  in  the  dairy 
or  in  general  agriculture,  have  developed  their 
bacteriology  from  this  special  standpoint. 

Several  factors  have  been  potent  in  contrib- 
uting to  this  many-sided  development  of  the 
science  in  this  country.  One  prominent  feature 
has  been  in  the  introduction  of  the  study  of 
bacteriology  into  the  regular  science  curricula 
of  universities. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  BACTERIOLOGY  AS  A  BIOLOGI- 
CAL SUBJECT. 

In  Europe  the  work  is  almost  universally  car- 
ried on  in  connection  with  the  faculties  of  med- 
icine, but  in  our  own  country,  in  a  number  of 
universities,  sometimes  even  those  provided 
with  medical  colleges,  bacteriology  is  taught 
in  the  regular  science  work  as  a  part  of  biologi- 
cal instruction.  In  such  institutions  bacteriolo- 
gists may  be  trained  just  as  are  chemists  or 
botanists.  Where  work  of  this  scope  is  given, 
the  bacteria  are  considered  as  living  organisms 
and  are  studied  as  such.  The  fact  that  certain 
forms  are  capable  of  calling  forth  pathological 
processes,  or  are  concerned  in  the  production  of 


7 

certain  fermentative  products  which  may  pos- 
sess a  utilitarian  value,  has  no  weight  except 
as  an  expression  of  more  or  less  highly  special- 
ized physiological  activity.  If  we  consider  the 
phenomena  of  parasitism  broadly,  it  gives  a 
breadth  of  perspective  that  is  of  greatest  ser- 
vice to  the  student,  even  if  later  he  should  take 
up  a  more  detailed  study  of  pathogenic  forms. 
So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  such  pre- 
paratory work  is  especially  valuable  as  a  basis 
on  which  to  raise  a  more  technical  or  special- 
ized superstructure.  It  is  the  general  experi- 
ence of  teachers  in  medical  schools  that  stu- 
dents who  have  had  their  elementary  bacteri- 
ological training  in  such  courses  as  these  are 
able  to  make  the  most  progress  in  their  medical 
work,  and  obtain  a,  much  broader  grasp  of  the 
subject  than  the  student  who  yields  to  the  no- 
tion that  it  is  much  more  profitable  for  him  to 
spend  his  time  wholly  on  the  distinctively 'dis- 
ease-producing species. 

The  importance  of  this  aspect  of  the  sub- 
ject in  America  is  evident  from  a  consid- 
eration of  the  higher  degrees  granted  in 
bacteriology  by  American  universities.  Al- 
though the  number  of  those  who  are  specializ- 
ing in  university  work  in  .bacteriology  is  not 
large  in  comparison  with  those  who  have  made 
this  a  subordinate  line  in  their  medical  course, 
still  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  number  has 
increased  within  recent  years.  Seven  doctors 


of  philosophy  were  granted  their  degrees  in 
bacteriology  at  last  commencement,  and  of  this 
number  the  theses  of  the  majority  were  on 
some  phase  of  general  bacteriology,  more  par- 
ticularly in  their  chemical  relations.  This  con- 
dition marks  a  type  of  development  in  Ameri- 
can bacteriology  that  is  more  or  less  unique, 
and  so  far  as  I  know  is  peculiar  to  our  univer- 
sity system.  Ten  or  fifteen  years  ago  students 
who  desired  to  specialize  in  bacteriology  were 
obliged  to  go  to  European  laboratories  for 
their  work,  but  with  the  great  improvement 
which  has  taken  place  in  this  country  in  scien- 
tific work  during  this  period,  the  American 
student  finds  the  facilities  of  a  number  of 
American  laboratories  equal  in  many  lines  to 
anything  he  can  get  abroad. 

INFLUENCE  OF  APPLIED  INDUSTRIAL  LINES. 

Another  factor  which  has  been  the  means  of 
bringing  a  number  of  bacteriological  students 
from  other  than  the  usual  field  has  been  the 
demand  for  trained  workers  in  connection  with 
agricultural  and  engineering  movements.  Sci- 
entific work  in  agriculture  has  been  greatly  fos- 
tered by  the  development  'of  the  agricultural 
experiment  station  movement.  Although  this 
idea  originated  in  Germany,  the  development 
of  the  system  in  this  country  has  now  far  out- 
stripped that  in  Europe,  particularly  in  bring- 
ing the  knowledge  of  scientific  advance  within 


9 

reach  of  the  tillers  of  the  soil.  Naturally  in  the 
study  of  soil  and  crop  problems,  economic 
dairying,  etc.,  physics  and  chemistry  especially 
were  recognized  as  basal  studies,  but  it  is  now 
realized  that  the  soil  is  not  composed  of  a  mass 
of  mere  inorganic  particles,  but  harbors  myri- 
ads of  living  forms,  which  exert  a  profound 
effect  upon  the  changes  which  go  on  therein. 
With  this  realization  the  importance  of  bac- 
terjology  has  come  to  be  quite  generally  recog- 
nized. The  same  is  true  with  dairy  phe- 
nomena. Nearly  all  of  the  numerous  dairy 
schools  in  our  distinctively  dairy  States,  in  both 
this  country  and  Canada,  have  more  or  less  com- 
pletely organized  and  equipped  bacteriological 
laboratories.  The  general  importance  of  the 
experiment  station  movement  may  be  recog- 
nized when  it  is  known  that  in  the  latest  pub- 
lished organization  Irst  of  the  station  staffs 
there  were  over  twenty-five  persons  classed  as 
bacteriologists,  a  number  perhaps  small,  but 
representing  a  growth  from  nothing  a  few 
years  ago. 

In  the  application  of  bacteriology  to  engi- 
neering practice^  the  matter  of  safeguarding 
the  health  of  communities  by  the  proper  treat- 
ment of  water-supplies  and  disposal  of  sewage 
has  been  given  a  marked  impetus  in  this  coun- 
try. Not  an  inconsiderable  number  of  Ameri- 
can bacteriologists,  particularly  those  of  this 
association,  are  to  be  ranked  among  those 


12 


bacteriologist.  In  fact,  we  may  say  that  the 
French  idea  is  rapidly  gaining  ground,  and  that 
our  science  would  be  more  correctly  denomi- 
nated if  it  was  called  micro-biology,  than 
restricted  to  the  study  of  the  bacterial  forms. 

Naturally  the  most  important  contributions 
to  this  line  of  science  have  been  in  the  field 
which  has  included  the  greatest  amount  of 
endeavor.  The  relative  predominance  of  medi- 
cal inquiry  has  of  course  resulted  in  the  maxi- 
mum degree  of  effort  being  spent  in  this  line. 
In  this  field  American  workers  have  made 
great  progress  in  attacking  American  prob- 
lems. It  would  be  impossible  and  perhaps  un- 
necessary to  go  into  such  a  recital  in  detail,  yet 
it  may  not  be  amiss  to  mention  in  passing  some 
of  the  more' salient  discoveries  which  have  been 
made  in  the  respective  fields.  Take  the  work  of 
Theobald  Smith  and  his  associates  on  Texas 
fever.  T£e  problem  here  was  to  unravel  the 
mystery  surrounding  a  disease  which  from  a 
practical  point  of  view  seriously  impaired  the 
agricultural  development  of  a  large  section  of 
our  country.  At  the  time  when  the  causal 
agent  of  this  disease  was  discovered,  the  rela- 
tion of  protozoan  forms  to  pathological  pro- 
cesses was  not  as  well  appreciated  as  it  is  now. 
The  discovery  of  the  causal  organism  and  the 
working  out  of  its  life  history,  especially  in 
relation  to  its  intermediate  host,  will  always 
remain  as  a  classic  example  of  experimental 


13 

inquiry,  and  the  successful  termination  of  such 
researches  in  the  development  of  efficient  pro- 
tective measures  attest  the  value  of  these  dis- 
coveries from  a  purely  practical  point  of  view. 

From  the  practical  results  that  have  followed 
from  scientific  investigations,  no  line  of  work 
has  been  fraught  with  more  import  than  that 
which  has  been  carried  on  by  the  lamented 
Reed  and  his  associates  on  yellow  fever.  Curi- 
ously enough,  the  inception  of  the  theory  that 
this  disease  was  transmitted  by  mosquitoes  was 
American,  yet  the  idea  lay  fallow  for  a  consid- 
erable period  of  time,  until  the  researches  re- 
ferred to  were  so  convincing  that  the  whole 
system  of  prophylaxis  was  changed  almost  in  a 
day.  The  curse  which  for  centuries,  has  rested 
on  the  seaport  towns  of  our  sister  republics  as 
well  as  menaced  our  own  borders  seems  likely 
to  be  removed  as  if  by  magic. 

In  the  line  of  problems  that  have  engaged 
the  attention  of  many  other  observers  may  be 
mentioned  the  venom  work  of  Flexner  and 
his  associates,  also  the  researches  which  have 
been  made  on  Shiga's  organism  and  their  rela- 
tion to  infantile  disorders;  the  important  mor- 
phological researches  of  Opie  and  MacCallum 
on  the  significance  of  the  flagellated  struc- 
tures in  malarial  parasites  and  other  hemame- 
bae;  the  recent  discoveries  of  Councilman  on 
smallpox. 

The   work   of   Smith   and   Ravenel   on   the 


14 

tubercle  bacillus  has  been  not  only  opportune 
but  convincing,  and  the  work  of  de  Schweinitz, 
Trudeau,  Pearson  and  Gilliland  on  immuniza-  . 
tion  of  animals  against  this  organism  bids  fair 
to  make  an  advance  step  in  the  warfare  against 
this  disease  that  will  be  of  greater  importance 
than  even  the  discovery  of  the  causal  organism 
itself. 

It  is  also  a  matter  of  considerable  pride  that 
American  bacteriologists  should  have  even  been 
the  pioneers  in  some  of  the  fields  of  research. 
The  demonstration  of  the  etiology  of  plant  dis- 
eases of  a  bacterial  nature  is  to  be  credited  to 
American  bacteriology.  The  first  studies  on 
this  subject  were  made  on  the  fire  blight  of 
pears  and  apples  by  Professor  Burrill,  and  to 
him  and  a  number  of  other  workers  belongs  the 
credit  of  proving  the  relation  of  this  disease 
to  bacterial  agency.  The  etiology  of  this  dis- 
ease has  been  as  thoroughly  proven  as  was  that 
of  anthrax,  all  of  the  canons  of  Koch  being  ful- 
filled, and  yet  this  work  is  often  not  accepted 
by  many  European  workers.  They  consid- 
ered the  evidence  as  inadequate  to  show  that  a 
causal  relation  existed  between  the  organism 
and  the  disease  in  question. 

It  is  surprising  even  yet  to  see  the  attitude 
which  is  taken  by  many  foreign  writers  on  this 
subject.  Text-books  of  German  origin  often 
wholly  ignore  the  relation  of  bacteria  to  plants, 
or  pass  it  over  with  a  brief  reference  in  an 


'5 

Anhang.  It  might  be  thought  that  this  posi- 
tion arose  from  the  fact  that  these  diseases 
were  less  common  in  Europe  than  here,  but 
since  the  experience  of  Harding,  who  found 
the  well  known  bacterial  black  rot  of  cabbage 
distributed  widely  throughout  all  Europe  and 
even  in  the  botanical  gardens  of  some  of  the 
universities,  it  seems  that  a  failure  to  adopt  the 
results  of  work  carefully  performed  in  this, 
country  must  rest  upon  some  other  reason  than 
lack  of  opportunity  to  study  these  maladies. 

Another  field  in  which  American  investiga- 
tion has  been  particularly  fruitful  has  been  in 
the  study  of  the  problems  associated  with  puri- 
fication of  water-supplies,  and  also  in  sewage 
disposal.  Problems  of  this  character  press 
most  earnestly  for  solution  in  older  settled 
countries,  and  it  is  therefore  a  matter  of  some 
moment  that  American  laboratories  should 
have  played  so  important  a  part  in  the  develop- 
ment of  this  knowledge.  The  classical  re- 
searches which  were  begun  by  the  State  Board 
of  Health  of  Massachusetts  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  eighties,,  at  which  time  the  Lawrence  Ex- 
periment Station  was  founded,  have  always 
occupied  a  foremost  position  in  work  of  this 
character.  Many  of  the  underlying  principles 
relating  to  the  proper  methods  of  sand  filtra- 
tion were  first  developed  in  this  country. 

In  technical  methods,  too,  marked  advances 
have  been  made.  Particularly  is  this  true  with 


i6 

reference  to  uniformity  in  methods,  a  condition 
which  has  been  brought  about  largely  through 
the  efforts  of  the  Bacteriological  Committee 
and  Standing  Committees  of  our  own  Section. 
The  development  of  American  bacteriology 
has  just  begun,  but  we  may  fairly  say  it  has 
been  well  begun.  The  present  shows  a  strong 
school  of  experimenters,  broadly  trained,  and 
approaching  their  problems  from  a  wide  range 
in  point  of  view,  a  condition  that  enables  them 
to  obtain  that  proper  perspective  which  is  so 
essential  to  successful  specialization.  The 
future  is  even  richer  in  promise. 

FUTURE  PROSPECTS. 

Xhe  great  impetus  which  is  now  being  given 
to  medical  instruction  is  sure  to  aid  materially 
in  the  development  of  bacteriological  work. 
Within  the  past  decade  the  requirements  of 
medical  instruction  have  been  greatly  aug- 
mented, and  among  the  sciences  to  which  much 
more  attention  is  being  paid  is  that  of  bacteri- 
ology. The  establishment  of  research  labora- 
tories in  connection  with  greatly  improved  hos- 
pital facilities  gives  an  opportunity  for  gradu- 
ate work  which  will  soon  equal  if  not  excel  the 
facilities  offered  anywhere  else  in  the  world. 

One  of  the  marked  characteristics  of  Ameri- 
,  can  philanthropy  has  been  its  devotion  to  edu- 
cation. Of  the  millions  that  are  annually  given 
to  this  purpose,  not  an  inconsiderable  amount 
will  naturally  be  used  to  foster  and  develop 


17 

such  sciences  as  this  which  so  strongly  appeal 
to  the  practical  man  of  affairs,  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  such  institutions  as  the  Rockefeller 
Institute,  the  Carnegie  Institution,  and  the  vari- 
ous foundations  for  the  special  study  of  re- 
stricted fields  like  tuberculosis  will  all  aid 
greatly  in  the  development  of  American  sci- 
ence. 

For  a  number  of  years  the  government  has 
been  doing  a  large  amount  of  bacteriologi- 
cal work  along  lines  which  are  primarily 
of  interest  to  agriculture,  but  the  scope  of  these 
studies  has  been  materially  broadened  within 
the  last  few  years,  through  the  formation  of 
the  Public  Health  Service  in  connection  with 
the  Marine  Hospital  Service.  Work  along 
these  sanitary  or  hygienic  lines  will  also  doubt- 
less be  greatly  extended  through  the  medium  of 
State  and  municipal  public  health  laboratories. 
The  original  function  of  these  laboratories  was 
largely  of  a  routine  character,  but  with  the 
development  of  bacteriology  the  scope  of 
their  activity  has  been  greatly  increased,  and 
already  a  number  of  them  have  become  strong 
research  centers.  The  opportunity  for  coopera- 
tive effort  among  a  number  of  institutions 
carrying  on  allied  work  is  excellent,  and  the 
auspicious  beginning  made  in  the  diphtheria 
work  of  the  Massachusetts  and  Minnesota 
boards  of  health  augurs  well  for  the  advantage 
to  be  derived  from  such  joint  investigations. 


i8 

The  facilities  of  American  laboratories  now 
rival  many  of  the  most  famous  institutions  in 
Europe,  but  in  matters  relating  to  publication 
American  work  has  not  been  as  fully  recog- 
nized as  it  ought.  We  now  have  a  number  of 
journals  which  are  more  or  less  distinctively 
bacteriological,  but  they  are  concerned  more 
particularly  with  certain  phases  of  the  science, 
such  as  the  relation  of  bacteriology  to  medicine. 
It  may  not  be  possible,  but  the  establishment  of 
a  medium  of  publication  that  would  especially 
embrace  the  activity  of  American  work  would 
undoubtedly  be  of  great  service  in  bringing  a 
more  complete  knowledge  of  American  investi- 
gations to  all  American  workers  as  well  as  aid- 
ing greatly  the  bibliographical  labors  of  for- 
eign scientists.  As  it  is  now  much  of  this  work 
is  reported  in  various  journals  and  reports, 
many  of  which  are  not  accessible  to  the  great 
majority  of  other  investigators.  If  we  had  in 
bacteriology  a  publication  that  would  do  for 
this  science  what  the  Experiment  Sta- 
tion Record  does  for  the  American  Agricul- 
tural Experiment  Station,  it  would  be  invalua- 
ble. This  publication  is  sustained  by  govern- 
mental aid,  but  it  has  undoubtedly  been  not 
only  the  means  of  widening  the  sphere  of  influ- 
ence of  American  agricultural  work  abroad, 
but  it  has  greatly  aided  in  the  development  of 
experiment  stations  in  this  country. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  representative  bac- 


19 

teriological  societies  in  this  country  may  agree 
on  some  feasible  plan  which  will  result  in  the 
consummation  of  this  project. 


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